You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
